As a channel partner, you’re likely limiting your success if you are selling products based only on their primary technological function. Gartner analyst Tiffani Bova put it this way at a recent conference in reference to cloud sales, “As we gain a better understanding of the power that cloud can bring to business, it becomes clear that the experience of technology in the ways that people are using it is more important than the technology itself.”
In other words, we’ve reached a point in the evolution of technology usage that requires partners to go above and beyond simply selling the obvious chief purpose of a technology solution. Rather, partners add impact to their sales strategies when they articulate other value-added uses to their customers. That is, partners—MSPs, VARs and agents—need to evaluate their business model and ask: How will I be a more successful partner in today’s technology landscape?
According to Bova, there are three different types of existing partner profiles that you can fit into. Hint: One profile is more forward- thinking that the rest.
- Traditional: Product-heavy; relies on vendor programs, on-premises solutions; does not manage services end to end; limited revenue
- Hybrid: Integrates some cloud services; working toward expanding portfolio; project-based work and consistent revenue
- Born in the cloud: Built in and for the cloud; maintains solid partnership with cloud services providers; expansive portfolio, consistent revenue
As more and more business solutions become supported by the cloud, partners must increase their understanding of cloud services to support sales.
Bova suggests that partners must strive to disrupt the channel by employing more value-added sales strategies that focus on communicating the positive business outcomes of adopting cloud solutions—from computing to data storage to application hosting—rather than stumbling through explanations of how a specific technology actually works. That is, partners must position themselves as trusted advisors, communicators and strategists that can effectively portray the real business results of implementing best-in-class IT solutions.
As outlined in detail in this interview of AVANT CEO Ian Kieninger by IT Best of Breed, partners can achieve this by teaming up with an innovative cloud-ready distributor, like AVANT, that can provide a complete, all-inclusive sales-ready business model. In other words, when partners choose a channel-forward distributor like AVANT, they gain sales, marketing, technical and all-around business support from one central source.
To learn more about what it takes to become a disruptive cloud partner, check out this blog.